And we call to them and to each other. 'Look, there's Grandma there's Uncle Joe there's Uncle Bill.' A bell sounds. The ships begins to move away.

"We stand silently for a very long time and watch as the ship goes further and further away until, finally, the mast is just a vertical pencil line on the distant horizon. Then it too goes down, until we can no longer see it. And we sigh, 'Oh, she's gone.' "But gone from where? Gone from our sight. That's all.

"For at the very moment we sigh, 'Oh, she's gone,' another cried on another shore and is jumping up and down, laughing and yelling and pointing excitedly out to sea saying, 'Look! She's coming. Look, the ship Is coming home! Look! There's Grandma there's Uncle Joe there's Uncle Bill.'"